At a Thursday evening meeting in the Kremlin with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the Russian president said: "It's a small but specific step in expanding cooperation between our countries." Joschka Fischer came to Moscow from Kaliningrad, where he took part in the ceremony of opening the consulate general.
By the estimate of the head of the Russian state, Russo-German cooperation "develops rather positively." "We preserve a very high level of trade turnover - 24 billion euros," Putin said. Besides, in his words, Germany is the leader among investors in the Russian economy - the investments accrued total over 10 billion euros.
"We are working in the spirit of agreements reached at the Russo-German summit in Yekaterinburg," the Russian president said.
In his words, Germany is Russia's important partner from the point of view of building relations with the European Union too. "On all these issues, you'll have consultations and talks in Moscow," Putin told Fischer. He expressed confidence that they will be held "at a high positive level."
